kale chip disaster August 22, 2008

my first attempt at making kale chips failed miserably. i don’t think i put enough kale pieces on the cookie sheet because they came out crumbly, like melt-in-your mouth crunchy and not in a good way. also, they were WAAAAAY too salty, it ruined the flavor of the kale. i sprinkled on quite a bit of salt because i was afraid i wouldn’t like kale’s natural flavor. i was wrong.

i’m going to try again soon because i have a ton of kale sitting in the fridge now that i need to use. here’s last nights batch before going into the oven.

and close-up, bathed in salt and olive oil.

fresh out of the oven on my plate along with my chick’n sandwich.

you can totally see the salt concentrations… it makes me gag just looking at how salty they were. my sandwich was good though. it was a chick’n patty on an ezekiel english muffin with a tiny sprinkle of mozzarella (that i couldn’t even taste) and some spicy mustard.

i was probably full after just eating that but i was so disappointed in the kale chip disaster that i craved something creamy and cool and sweet. i compromised by adding a tbsp. and a half of agave nectar to some soy yogurt and pairing it with kashi h2h and slivered almonds. so really it was a trio of things in there, (not counting the agave) not a pair.

friday morning dawned bright and early today. after my shower i was hungry so i dipped into my cantaloupe.

lots of fresh juicy cantaloupe and i ate it all. cantaloupe is my all-time favorite favorite fruit ever. of all time. i love it so much that last statement wasn’t even redundant.

i wasn’t so hungry after all that cantaloupe but i packed some grapes and an almond butter & banana sandwich for mid-morning.

having eaten all of that i should be stuffed. but i’m definitely already hungry for lunch. i’m excited to share something i’ve actually cooked myself with my dad. i had a ton of stuffing left over the other night from the spicy bean stuffed peppers. i brought the filling to work with me today and plan to run next door for some lettuce we can wrap it in for spicy lettuce wraps! i know he’ll love them because they’re really hot and he likes jalapenos.

hot hot hot August 21, 2008

as if it’s not hot enough outside i have to turn up the heat a little by having a leftover spicy bean stuffed pepper for lunch.

whoops, that reminds me that i completely skipped posting breakfast. it was a good one today, too. a fruit smoothie in almond milk with cantaloupe, frozen strawberries, and blood orange sorbetto.

clearly, i didn’t use ALL of that stuff. but what i did use yielded a perfect 16oz. here it is in my very own homemade go-cup.

i felt like having waffles this morning in addition to all the fruit so i toasted two flax waffles and spread a little smear of almond butter on one and a mashed banana with sugar-free maple on the other.

i ate it sandwich style and it was delicious. here’s breakfast all together.

yes, that is an old cottage cheese container. i like to do my part by reusing.

back to lunch. for dessert i packed 4 caramel tea cookies which is technically 1 and 1/3 serving. and all that was left so i decided just to pack them all.

tonights planned workout: step-circuit. i’m not a huge fan of step classes so we’ll see how this one goes…

rain delay August 15, 2008

the rain was not really part of the reason this post has been delayed but it did rain last night on my way to yoga. the real reason i haven’t posted until now is because i was purposely avoiding the internet so i wouldn’t accidentally find out the results of the olympic events broadcast during prime-time that i was recording. i wanted to watch it, not have it spoiled for me just by opening my firefox homepage (espn.com).

after jazzercise i hurried home to fit in a quick bite before yoga. i decided a simple pb&j would stave off the hunger for a normal dinner but not make me so full that i wouldn’t be able to do yoga. so i spread the last of my almond butter on 1 slice of an ezekiel english muffin and some blackberry fruit spread on the other for a delicious filler between workouts.

when i got home, i wasn’t hungry. i thought that was weird because i had hardly had anything substantial to eat that day. i should have gone with that and just had a mug of hot mint tea to watch the olympics with but instead, i ate. gah. it’s official, i’m a compulsive eater…

i baked a sweet potato in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes and wrapped it in foil once i took it out so it could sit in the foil for awhile and finish cooking? i have no idea what the purpose of the foil is but my sister told me it’s the only proper way to bake a potato. anyway, when i was ready to eat it (barring any actual hunger) i spread a tiny tiny bit of cinnamon butter on either half and drizzled it with sugar-free maple.

that should have done it. i should have drawn the line and not made myself keep eating. but my cranberry walnut bread has been sitting the fridge for too long and i want to eat it before it goes bad. so i toasted a slice and spread it with a lite laughing cow wedge.

i thought i wanted to just eat the rest of those wedges (i still have a wheel left from before i gave up cheese) but i’m going to donate them to my parent’s kitchen because i can’t stomach it anymore. it wasn’t a disaster but i feel noticeably better when i keep dairy out of my diet. and, as if that STILL wasn’t enough, i had an uncle eddie’s vegan cookie just because i could see the package and i happened to be standing in the kitchen. it was too impulsive for there to be time for a photo. i paid the price for not listening to my own tummy. it was very sour after my kitchen binge.

my only consolation is that maybe i really did need the extra calories because i did two workouts and ate very light the rest of the day. but if i keep thinking that then i’ll never rack up enough of a deficit each day to lose any weight. my new mission is to remedy this dilemma by starting the week off a bit more prepared in the food department. while still sticking to my budget, of course.

a nutty surprise June 2, 2008

not really a surprise because i packed it this morning but i did have to modify what i actually ate from what i brought with me. i had planned on eating the almond butter on wasa crackers but it would have put me over my carb count for the day and then i would have just been disappointed. so i ate a tablespoon of almond butter right off the spoon with 1oz. of cashews and a prune. it was a modest snack because i’m going to a girl’s night out tonight to watch sex and the city again and we’re going to dinner at a fabulous mexican restaurant first. i looked at the menu online and there seem to be plenty of healthier options, based on what i know about the ingredients they listed. i’m almost positive i’m going to get a salad and eat half of it. i need more protein and good fat to round out my day. let’s see how i can do…
here’s snack, it was 211 calories.

i can’t wait for tonight, it’ll be a nice change from the regular monday night lineup. no workout today though, so i must take extra care with dinner. i don’t want the scale to be mad at me in the morning (or vice versa).

snackage May 29, 2008

since i ate lunch so early today i have been snacking since then, about 396 calories worth according to myfitnesspal.com. i took pictures of the granola bar and the cereal but i snuck a tablespoon of almond butter without taking its pic. photobucket is on the fritz right now otherwise i would post said pictures. i’ll try again later, i just really wanted to post up about my snacks before i tackle my second workout. i’ll probably grill a turkey cutlet for dinner. i can’t wait to go to sleep tonight, i am about ready to tear my eyeballs out. i swear it’s like i rinsed them in milk or something. i hope i can make it through jazzercise. sorry for the stream of consciousness without any visuals.
6-2-08 PICS FINALLY UP!

ruby tuesday May 28, 2008

i never actually ate there yesterday, but it was a gem of a day the way i did eat. i started out with a lovely breakfast of cream of wheat made with 2/3c. of nonfat milk. i topped it with a 1/2c. of blueberries and 1oz. of toasted walnuts. i didn’t have time to make oats on the stove so the cream of wheat was the instant kind. i was really pleased with the result.

it filled me up on minimal calories (290 total) so i was happy.
four hours later i had my hummus, wasa, avocado concoction with two pluots. i rather enjoy this one and i have lots of avocado and hummus so it will definitely be making another comeback.

i chopped the wasa into cracker slices and covered the avocado with the hummus and dug into it like that. lunch was a total of 342 calories.
four hours and lots of water later, i had a snack of chopped apples with almond butter. this is a new fav.

i guess i wasn’t eating enough calories though, because i was beginning to feel lightheaded. i couldn’t be having that with my workout coming up. so i supplemented with an extra protein snack before i hit the gym.

i had three of these roll-ups and it powered me through a very tough boot-camp workout. the snack totaled 271 calories and i burned 363 calories strength training.
i got to this boot-camp class every tuesday evening for an hour. we do 40 minutes of strength/circuit training with spurts of cardio in between, usually. yesterday it was supersets of biceps, triceps, chest, back, squats, lunges, and planks. then we stretch for 20. i can totally feel it today. i also did 30 minutes of light spinning before class. that was an additional 310 calories burned.
after all of that, i realized i hadn’t gotten nearly enough protein for the day. i came up with a protein rich dinner for not many calories. i call it my turkey-spinach-egg white scramble with cheese.

it was 3 scrambled egg whites with 4oz. of grilled turkey, a handful of organic baby spinach and a 1/4c. of fat-free shredded cheddar. i also had the last two pluots before they went bad, they were very ripe and juicy.
here’s a closeup of the yummy goodness that was my inventive scramble.

this was so light calorically (word?) that i treated myself to a glass of the pomegranate wine i bought at whole foods this weekend and a dark chocolate square.

even with the treat, dinner was only 363 calories.
so you see why i felt pretty good about yesterday, i managed to keep my calories low without going hungry and even saving room for that piece of dark chocolate

trail mix oats May 26, 2008

this morning has been substantially better. i went hiking with mom for an hour and then on a walk/bike/ jog through the neighborhood with the rest of the family a little later for about 20 minutes. the weather is absolutely perfect. it pains me to be inside blogging right now because today is going to be the last day of spring weather for the rest of the summer
in my great outdoor workout i burned 430 calories! not bad, it was a good time.
pre-workout i had a banana with a tablespoon of almond butter for a sustaining 191 calories.

i got home to my parents house and made me and mom some oatmeal with vanilla soymilk. i topped mine with organic unsalted trail mix for a total of 340 calories.

oh yeah, right after the hike mom and i went for coffee at our favorite local coffeehouse. i had a small soy latte with sugar-free syrup for about 90 calories.

i think i’m all caught up now, i’m getting hungry so i’m about to eat some leftover whole wheat pasta salad with pesto sauce. yeah that sounds good, i’ll be back on to blog it soon!

a quick snack May 24, 2008

around 5pm i got hungry again, even after my masterfully planned lunch, so i had a sliced apple with almond butter! i just got it at whole foods from their neat little machine. so i know exactly what’s in my almond butter… almonds. and nothing else
here they are freshly sliced

and with the almond butter, before i ate them

and it was yummy but it didn’t hold me over very long, i got back to my parents house and had some more freshly sliced fruit, honeydew! it was unbelievably juicy and completely worth the extra 61 calories.

i didn’t eat everything shown here, it just looked nicer in the gladware than speared on my fork halfway to my mouth before i even remembered to take a photo.
grand total for late afternoon snack was 344 calories. and then the real trouble started :/